Max

inking of experiences, it is, of course, a commonplace; but to the imaginative, who by gift divine see

ess, and if one could have looked through the carriage windows, blurred with damp mist, one would have seen upon almost every face the look-resigned or resolute-of those who fare forth by necessity rather than by choice. In the sleeping-cars all the berths were occupied, but here and them throughout the length of the train an occasional traveller slept on the seat of his carriage, wrapped in coats and rugs, while in the dining-saloon a couple of sleepy waiters lurched to and fro in attendance upon

nd even laughed one to the other each time the train lurched over the points, and the

ce passed the barrier of manhood, for the skin of the face was clean and smooth, and the limbs, s

a something of self-consciousness seemed to cling to him-a need for caution that lay near to the surface of his drowsing senses-for once or twice he started, once or twice his straight, dark eyebrows twitched into a frown, once or twice his fingers tightened

rough the damp, peaceful country-dreaming with that odd confusion of time and sce

saw, recognized, lost it, and knew himself to be skimming down the Nevskiy Prospekt and across the Winter Palace Square, where the great angel towers upon its rose-granite monument. Forward, forward he was carried, along the bank of the frozen Neva and over the Troitskiy bridge, the powdered snow stinging h

itive, miniature train, white with frost and powdered with the ashes of its wood fuel. The vision came and passed a sketch, not a picture-a suggestion of straight tracks, wide snow plains, and the blue, misty blur of fir woods. Then a shifting, a juggling of effects! ?bo, the Finnish port, painted itself upo

flicked his nostrils, he heard the broken ice tearing the keel like a million files, he was sensible of the crucial sensation-th

nly awake. It was over and done with-the coldness, the rigor, the region of ice bonds! The fingers of the

at being tricked by our emotions into a false conception. Drawing his hand from his coat-pocket, he stretched himself with a

enervating or stimulating according to the traveller's gifts. To this solitary voyager stimulation was obviously the effect produced, for, try as he might to cheat the inquisitive lamps, interes

HE OUTER COURT OF A

on the rack above them, was his own modest hand-bag without initials or label-a common little bag that might have belonged to some poor Russian clerk or held the possessions of some needy Polish student. The owner's glance scanned and appraised it, then by suggestion fell to the plain

yes the adventurous look-fearless, observant, questioning. In composition, in expression and essence, this boy was tha

front, of his coat, revelling in its coarse texture; he rose to his feet, turned to th

ng poignant and delicious in the scent of turned earth, the savor of vegetation. He could see little or nothing as the train rocked and the landscape tore past, but the atmosphere spok

veil shone the lights of Paris! With a quick, exulting excitement he laughed; but even as the laugh was caught and scattered to the winds by the thunder of the engine, his bearing ch

of the carriage, peered back at him, frankly curious. When they had left the compartment he had been a hu

ened; until, as the eldest of the party came down the carriage and appropriated

the doorway and speaking in French easily and

rted and lo

But I do not

n Russian clothes-and a slightly questioning, slightly satirical expression crossed his face. He was a man who knew

his long legs and lighted a thin black cigar, and the younger-a spruce young Englishman wearing an eye-glass and a small mustache-wrapped himself

ed to stand by the window, pretending to look through the blurred panes, in reality won

broke the silence in a slow, cool

Blake," he remarked,

e two younger men, to see which would answer to the name; and the

, the tolerant look-half sceptical, half

es to the hour." The thin man studied his flat gold watch wi

youngest of the th

ve, McCutcheon! Wish I c

e rose, his long, spidery figure stretching up like a grotesque shadow, but as his arm went out to the nearest of the sh

stepping down the carriage, had tumbled into his former seat, hunching hims

smiled; the Englishman shrugged his shoulders; the American, w

le feeling of regret. In traversing the world's pathways, beaten or wild, he always made a point of seeing the story behind the circumstance; and, had he realized it, a common

presently the calculating voice of McCutcheon broke forth again, as he relapsed in

" he said. "To think I could have be

! A man shouldn't be allowed to play poker with

izzical glance at the neat young Englishman,

heer bluff. What would Billy be without one? Well, perhaps we won't sa

tion. With the composure which he wore as

. "What are you reading, my son? Makes a man sort of want his breakfas

oked up

he said. "But I tell you it takes so

illustrated weekly papers are an ex

o scoff, but one may get a side-light anywhere. I

he principle on which i

'Tisn't always in the serious reports you get the color of a fact, just as t

rop

g of this Pete

business?" McCutcheon drew

n subtler matters than mere politics. "Not at all,"

tience. "Oh, Billy, don't!" he s

is mouth. "The woman who disappe

r marriage to elope with some poet or painter, and s

lomat glanced

here's any sugge

n, Billy. Of course there is a love

ike all good Socialists, crammed to the neck with class bigotry.

ound all right," he said; "but

sm at last forced a way t

believing, perhaps seeing is! Look at these pic

paper, but Blake

nian gypsy who had run away from her tribe I'd take he

n a monotonous murmuring voice: "'The Princess, as well as being a woman of artistic accomplishments, is an ardent sportswoman, having in her early girlhood hunted and shot with keen zest on her father's estates. The above picture shows h

the woman. I'm sick to death of all such nonsense. We're due in a couple of hours. I

seeing that he was in earnest,

ight, it won't bother me." He nodded, smiled, drew his rug closer about his k

s feet as he finished with them; McCutcheon smoked, gazing into space with the blank expression of the strenuous man who has learned to utilize his momentary respites; while, stretche

nglishman dropped his last paper, and McCutcheon s

se loafers in the dining-car promise

of the journey. "I believe they did," he said. "Tell you what! Yo

was no slow recovery of the senses; he was asleep and then awake-fully, easily awake, wi

me, like a good boy. There's nothing more fiendishly triumphant than taking a bath in the basin while the rest of the train is rattling the door-handle. D

ttle exercise will give you an appetite." He paused to stretch his long, lean body, and incidentally his

e quick glance at the huddled form, then he answered, tersely: "L

comprehending grimace, an

ositive certainty of his solitude had grown into his mind, he

nquestionably this boy had a temper and a spirit of his own, and both had been aroused. There was a certain arrogance, a certain contempt in his glance now as it swept the inoffensive coats and rugs of

tic influence, and at last, with a swift impulse, extremely character

ver the paper, the pages turning with incredible speed under the eagerness of his touch. At last he reached

with an air of pride and careless supremacy that had in it something magnificent, something semi-barbaric. The boy looked at this curious and arresting picture, but only for a moment; by some affinity, some subtl

oved; the hair was closely coiled, so that the young face looked out upon the world frank and unadorned as a boy's. Here, as in the first picture, the eyes looked forth with a curious, proud directness; but beneath th

liberation odd in so slight a circumstance, folded the

d nostrils breathing in the suggestive, vaporous air. For a moment he stood, steadying himself to the motion of the train, palpitating to his secret thoughts; then, with a little theatric